MARILYN MONROE

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

I was watching an old movie by Marilyn Monroe called Don't Bother to Knock. She was REALLY underrated. It's a shame she always got the sex-pot roles and never got to expand out of that role like she wanted to. She really wanted to be a serious actress. She is said to have been very intelligent, well-read, reading books from The Communist Manifesto and The Ego and the Id to Invisible Man and The Great Gatsby, many of which were sold in a special MM collection. She was also very much into politics, her friends remember having conversations with her on the morality of the U.S. having nuclear weapons. I encourage everyone to get Gloria Steinem's book on her, she does a really great job of going into why she was the way she was, her life and how many things in her childhood affected her in adulthood. Steinem when she first saw a Marilyn Monroe movie was offended by her portrayal as a dumb blonde. She then delved deeper and learned she was much more than the stereotype studios desperately wanted to portray her as.

Heres some of Steinem's commentary on Marilyn: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/marily... /

I liked this part:

In the last interview before her death, close to the time of these photographs, Patricia Newcomb, her friend and press secretary, remembers that Marilyn pleaded unsuccessfully with the reporter to end his article like this:

What I really want to say: That what the world really needs is a real feeling of kinship. Everybody: stars, laborers, Negroes, Jews, Arabs. We are all brothers.

Please don’t make me a joke. End the interview with what I believe.

[Skittles]

1. she was a good actress

[SeattleGirl]

2. God, but she was beautiful!

[RFKHumphreyObama]

3. She was a great actress

Stunningly beautiful, talented and from all accounts a wonderful person as well

[JohnnieGordon]

4. This is my favorite pic of Marilyn

She had a really dark tan at the time.

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

5. Is that her? I think that may be someone imitating her?

[JohnnieGordon]

7. It's my favorite singer, Donna Summer

On the back cover of her 1976 album Four Seasons Of Love. Marilyn was Donna's inspiration for her first 3, breathily sung, heavily erotic albums.

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

9. Oh, I didn't know that. I love her especially "Last Dance." nt

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Marilyn was a beautiful and tragic woman.

I still feel sad about her death.

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. IIRC in the LIFE magazine books of photography,

the photographer who took her "jumping" pic (looking back over her shoulder) did some 200 shots, and said that she gave her all for each and every one, agreeing to work until the right one appeared. I don't remeber exactly, but it may have also been very late at night and she may have had a cold...excellent work ethic. I hope that she helped society grow just a little bit further out of objectification.

[kimmerspixelated]

10. I'm definitely a fan of MM or Norma Jean.

Like Elvis, I think she was tragically over-drugged by her doctors most of the time. Misfits was interesting as far as pushing more of her range. She did attend the Actor's Studio, and after all the books I've read about her final months, I believe she was possibly destined to get serious behind a recording career. I thought she had a decent voice, and I bet she would've sold a lot of records. I, too, still get upset about her departure.

[Sultana]

11. Aww, Marilyn

RIP

[Amerigo Vespucci]

12. The documentary "Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days" is tough to watch...

...it pieces together the existing footage of her last, unfinished movie ("Something's Gotta Give," co-starring Dean Martin) and documents the numerous reasons why she kept missing shoots.

Makes you wonder what life would have been like for Norma Jean if she'd never been attracted to the bright lights.

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

15. I wanna see it. nt

[WinkyDink]

13. A tragic beauty, and in the days before lipo and silicone.

[Skittles]

16. before anorexia became a Hollywood norm, too

yes indeed

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. When I was 7 I wanted to be Marilyn, and I wanted to marry Elvis.